How I Use n8n to Make SEO Less Painful (and Actually Fun)

I used to waste hours every week doing the same SEO tasks over and over. Site audits. Rank checks. Sitemaps. You name it. The tools were always the same, but the processes were stuck in this weird loop of exporting CSVs, merging sheets, checking data, fixing one thing, and repeating it next week.

That changed when I started using n8n.

I’m not here to pitch it. I’ll just say this: if you’ve ever wished your SEO work came with a second brain that could do the boring bits, this is it.

Let me show you how I use it.

What is n8n?

Put simply, n8n is a tool that lets you connect other tools. But more than that, it lets you control what happens between them. You can build automated workflows using APIs, logic, filters, and data formatting - all without writing a full app.

That might sound techy, and yeah, it is. But I’m not a developer either. I learned by breaking things until they worked. Once I got the hang of it, I couldn’t go back.

How I Actually Use n8n for SEO Work

I’ve built a bunch of small automations that sit quietly in the background. They don’t scream for attention. They don’t crash on me mid-report. They just run. And save me time.

Here are the ones I rely on the most.

Sitemap Monitoring and Submissions

The Headache:

You’ve got ten client sites. Or fifty. You want to know if their XML sitemaps are still being submitted and accepted by Google. Logging into Search Console one at a time is slow. Clients forget to tell you when they change URLs. Things go stale.

What I Built:

• A list of expected sitemap URLs for each site

• A weekly n8n workflow that:

  • Pulls sitemap index data via GSC API

  • Compares expected vs submitted

  • Re-submits missing ones

  • Sends me a quick Slack message if something doesn’t look right

No logging in. No screenshots. No surprises.

Catching Broken Internal Links Before Users Do

The Headache:

Broken links aren’t just bad for SEO. They’re annoying. But by the time someone tells you a link is dead, it’s already done damage. Crawling manually is boring. And easy to put off.

What I Built:

• Screaming Frog runs a crawl every Friday and dumps a CSV into Google Drive

• n8n watches that folder

• When a new file appears:

  • It reads the data

  • Filters for 404s

  • Pulls the source URLs

  • Builds a short list of where the broken links live

  • Emails that list to me

Now broken links show up in my inbox before Monday morning. I fix them with coffee.

Keyword Monitoring Without the Overkill

The Headache:

I like GSC. But I hate digging through it just to find out if a few priority keywords tanked over the weekend. Most dashboards feel bloated or miss the one thing you’re looking for.

What I Built:

• A list of target pages and keywords for each project

• A weekly job that:

  • Calls the GSC API for each keyword

  • Checks ranking shifts from the previous week

  • Flags any major drops

  • Saves it to a sheet

  • Sends me an alert only if something changed

This helps me catch traffic dips early. Clients appreciate that kind of responsiveness, even if they never see the workflow.

Mining “People Also Ask” for Content Ideas

The Headache:

You know those PAA questions on Google? They’re pure gold for search intent. But grabbing them at scale is messy. Doing it manually? Not a chance.

What I Built:

• A simple webhook that takes a keyword

• A scraper (via SerpAPI) that pulls all PAA questions for it

• The results get cleaned and sent to a Google Sheet

• I tag them with search intent (question, how-to, comparison)

• The content team pulls directly from that sheet for briefs

It’s like having a little research assistant who doesn’t get bored halfway through.

Lightweight Backlink Checker for Smaller Clients

The Headache:

Not every client has the budget for Ahrefs or SEMrush. But they still need to know when someone links to them - or when a spammy site does.

What I Built:

• Pulls recent backlinks from an API or crawl

• Filters for follow/no-follow, domain rating, and anchor text

• Flags suspicious domains based on a simple rule set

• Saves it to Airtable

• Sends me a Monday digest of all new backlinks

Now I don’t need a full-blown SEO suite just to do basic link monitoring.

Should You Start Using n8n?

If you’re drowning in repeat tasks and feel like your work is 40 percent spreadsheets, 30 percent clicking around, and 30 percent telling clients “I’ll get that to you later” - yes.

It takes time to learn. But it pays off. Start small. Pick something annoying and try to automate just that. You don’t need to build a massive workflow. You just need one that works.

Mine started with a broken sitemap. Yours might start with cleaning up rank tracking sheets. Doesn’t matter. Just start.

Some Parting Thoughts

People often talk about “working smarter” but don’t give you anything practical to do that. For me, n8n became that practical thing. I don’t use it because it’s trendy or because it promises magic. I use it because it keeps me from burning out on the repetitive stuff.

And that’s really the point. Less burnout. More bandwidth. Better work.

If you're curious, just open it up and poke around. Break stuff. Try again. That’s how I figured it out.

If you want to see some of these workflows in action, I’m happy to share. Just ask.